


Gender? What's That Matter?

by EdgyAestheticUsername



Series: Half-Life but it's a College AU [3]
Category: Half-Life
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, M/M, Mute Gordon Freeman, alyx does his makeup because i said so, barney notices as much, damn i always forget, gordon and alyx bonding moments, mostly they just talk and hang out but also gordos pretty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-02
Updated: 2020-09-02
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:28:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,242
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26247199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EdgyAestheticUsername/pseuds/EdgyAestheticUsername
Summary: Title makes this sound a lot more serious than it is. Gordon is actually very comfortable expressing a more feminine side, he just doesn't know it yet. Alyx is helping him figure it out somewhat by doing some make-up for him. Oh, and Barney shows up, just because he deserves to see how pretty the nerd looks.
Relationships: Barney Calhoun/Gordon Freeman, Gordon Freeman & Alyx Vance, but like barely youll see what i mean
Series: Half-Life but it's a College AU [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1901479
Comments: 8
Kudos: 114





	Gender? What's That Matter?

**Author's Note:**

> No warnings or anything for this! It's just Gordon and Alyx bonding and being wholesome for 2200 words :>

Gordon meets Alyx Vance through Barney, of course. He’s friendly and social, and Gordon knows a lot of people would describe him as charming. Who would've thought, right? Alyx is a freshman too, just like them, and as it turns out, she’s in Gordon’s computer science course. He hadn’t even noticed her, honestly. Luckily, she doesn’t hold it against him at all; it’s a big class, and Gordon keeps his head down and stays out of the way most times anyway. And she knows sign. Gordon’s fine with admitting that at the moment, that’s his favorite thing about her, along with the way her spunk compliments Barney’s usually calm demeanor. Gordon likes that she signs because it means he doesn’t have to translate himself or write things down when they hang out, and she’s helping Barney learn too. It’s really a great combination, and she’s so incredibly nice to both him and Barney, it was almost a surprise she accepted them both so fast. Being friends with Alyx as well as Barney means Gordon has two more friends than he expected to by the third month of school. Real friends that actually want to hang out with him outside of shared classes. It's a pleasant surprise and change from the previous year in high school, really.

Alyx has her own apartment off campus too, which is nice when they want to hang out outside of school. It's less cramped than a dorm and they don't have to count on each others' roommates being out. Well, Alyx does still have a roommate, but at the very least, they both have their own space. 

He's walking into her building with her, listening to the self-proclaimed hacker infodump about her term project, something about artificial intelligence that teaches itself, but also takes in information. It's a very complicated system from what Gordon gathers about it, but he's not majoring like her. A lot of what she says is absolutely lost on him, but just from a few things she’s showed him, she’s very good at what she does. 

Instead of going right for the stairs when they walk in, she leads him over to her mailbox, one of many in the wall across from the entryway. Alyx makes a noise as she unlocks it, pulling out a box about the size of a package of Ramen. It has her name on it in a very clear, stylized print.

"It's from my dad." She explains. "He keeps sending me make-up and… it's a nice gesture, but I've told him I don't wear it. I mean, he's not trying to push me to or anything, don't get me wrong… He does it because he misses me, I think, and before I left, I  _ was _ into the whole make-up deal. It was just too much work in the morning, so I stopped. And hey, he always picks out some nice colors. Come on, Gordon." She locks the mailbox back up, mounting the stairs two at a time. 

Gordon keeps up, but barely. His knees aren't exactly built for this.

"Mostly I just give it to my roommate, she wears make-up way more than I do." She drops her voice, leaning closer to Gordon as if someone will overhear. "If the colors are nice enough, I just keep it, though."

Gordon chuckles as she stops at a landing, on the third floor. Her apartment is at the end of the hall with a small welcome mat at the door, which makes him smile slightly. 

“I think Vanessa’s out right now, I didn’t see her car in the lot.” Alyx shrugs and tosses her bag down by the door, kicking off her shoes as well, then heading for what Gordon guesses is her bedroom. “Make yourself at home, just don’t eat anything with Nessa’s name on it. She’ll flip.”

Gordon nods, then slips his shoes off as well before he follows her, looking around the place. There’s not much to see, though. Not many decorations, save for a small, bad drawing of a clown framed and hanging in an odd spot in the living room. It’s absolutely covering a hole, he’s sure of it. He files that away to ask about later.

Alyx’s room is exactly what he’s expect from her; organized chaos. There are two bookcases, one much smaller than the other and closer to her bed. The tall one is full of books of all kinds, the small one housing only a few unlabeled binders. There’s a clothing hamper by the window, some clothes hanging out of it and piled next to it. The walls, unlike the rest of the apartment, are covered in posters. Some of bands he thinks he’s heard her and Barney talking about before, some motivational, some nice pictures with nonsense text that Gordon isn’t going to pretend he understands. Her desk is surprisingly clean, with only a lamp and a neat pile of papers on it.

She drops into her office chair and whips a small knife out of the pocket of her jeans, her dad’s package still in hand. “Alright, let’s see what he sent this time…” She breaks through the tape easily, Gordon awkwardly standing by the door. She glances at him as she empties the small box. “Hey, you can sit on my bed if you want, I don’t really care.” She gestures, and Gordon nods, shuffling over. 

He sits on the edge, hands resting next to him. He moves them a little bit, smiling as he notes the soft texture of the blanket under his palms. Then Alyx turns to him, making a soft, “Ooooh”.

“Okay, it’s some lipstick and eyeshadow. I’m not big on the lipstick, but check this out! This one’s called Borialis!” She opens the pallet, holding it up for Gordon to see. Blues and greens, with what he thinks is silver and gold glitter in pallets of their own at one end. Gordon has to admit, the colors are really pretty. “These are actually super nice, I’m keeping that.” She turns away again, opening one of the drawers in the desk. She pulls out a fairly large silver bag, opening it up. “Let’s see if I can fit this in here…”

She pauses entirely, turning to squint at Gordon. [What?] He asks, tilting his head. 

“Thinking about something…” She muses, going back to her bag. She rummages through it, setting a few things to one side or the other then looking them over again. She turns back to Gordon again. “How comfortable are you with your masculinity?”

Gordon’s eyebrows go up immediately. [What?] He asks again, more pointed this time.

“Like, okay…” She fixes him with a look. “Are you the kind of guy that’s gonna get pissy if you come into contact with  _ anything _ seen as feminine?”

[I’m honestly not sure what you’re asking me right now.] Gordon says honestly. [I know some of these words, but not in that order.]

“Okay, fine, better question. Would you let me put make-up on you?” She rests her elbows on her knees, chin resting on her hands.

Gordon blinks… and considers the question. Well, he’s never exactly considered himself very masculine to begin with. He’s never liked most typically masculine things, but he wouldn’t call himself feminine either. He likes men’s clothes, but hasn’t exactly tried any women’s clothes to compare. And, admittedly… he  _ is _ curious. Both about what he’ll look like, and how he’ll feel. He slowly nods.

Alyx grins, bouncing slightly in her seat. “Awesome! Don’t worry, I actually know what I’m doing here. It’s easier on someone else, anyway. I can actually see what I’m doing. And you don’t have to keep it on for that long if you don’t like it, I just think it would look really good on you!” She gathers one of the piles she set aside, bringing it all over to the bed and sitting down next to Gordon, facing him. “Here, get comfortable. You get to pick out colors. I’m not gonna do your whole face, just your eyes. Maybe lips if you like any of the lipstick.”

Gordon nods as she opens a few pallets of eyeshadow, adjusting himself so that he’s facing her, too. [This might actually be fun.]

“Now that’s the spirit! Here, pick a couple… I might try a blended look on you.” Gordon isn’t sure what that means, but he likes how confident she is with it.

* * *

The clown is, in fact, covering a hole in the wall. The hole is from Alyx trying to build a “compact orange peeler”. The hole is the only result that survived, and it was created via orange launch. Gordon had to force himself to stay still through that explanation as she told him, just so the eyeliner Alyx had just put on him didn’t get smudged.

As she works on his face, Alyx also tells him about a few of the bands she has posters of, with Gordon’s prompting, of course. Alyx has a lot of interests that she really loves to talk about, and Gordon figures she can do enough talking for the both of them. He’s more than happy to listen, especially considering it’s about things both of his friends like. It’ll let him be more conversational in the long run.

Alyx talks so much that Gordon hardly even notices the time passing, and he hardly minds that at all. She sits back from him, smirking at her hard work. She sets down the eyeliner she was holding in favor of picking up a pallet with a mirror, finally letting Gordon look at what she’s done.

“Okay, now I’m not bragging, buuuut… I think I pretty much nailed it.” She boasts.

As Gordon blinks at his reflection, he thinks that it’s justified. He uses one hand to find his glasses and slip them back on, eyes going wide when his vide clears. Alyx isn’t just precise about her codes and programs. She’s precise about everything she makes, even if it’s a new look for the skinny little nerd she dragged into a friendship.

The eyeliner, as far as Gordon can tell, is perfectly even. She blended a dark blue to a pale green on his eyelids, with a very, very thin line of silver sparkles swirled in. She even talked him into lipstick, an ever so slightly more pink shade she stole back from her roommate. It hadn’t been used at all, thankfully, and it brought out Gordon’s lips even more. He slowly looks up from the mirror to her, clearly somewhat shocked. He sets it down.

[I’m pretty.] He signs, getting a nod from her in return.

“You’re  _ very _ pretty, Gordon. If my dad sends me anything else, do you want it, maybe? You know, so you don’t have to buy your own?” She offers, starting to put things away. 

He shakes his head. [No, I’m not sure this is something I’d want other people seeing. Not right now, anyway.]

“Mm. Well, okay. But just let me know? And I can teach you, if you do want to start doing it yourself.” Alyx gives him a reassuring pat on the shoulder and stands, hap-hazardly shoving the make-up back into the carrying case. 

Through the open door of her bedroom, it’s easy to hear the door to the apartment open, and Gordon only spares a glance backward. Alyx doesn’t react, assuming it’s her roommate. 

“Hey folks, anybody home?” Calls the unmistakable drawl of Barney Calhoun.

Gordon looks at Alyx, alarmed. She only smiles. She yells back, “Hey Barn, we’re in my room! Gordon’s here!” To Gordon, she explains. “We planned on hanging out today, he knew I’d be home. Nessa knows him too, though, don’t worry.” Then her grin brightens. “Hey, we’ll see what Barney thinks about that!” She indicates his face with a jab of her finger. 

Gordon’s legs unfold and swing over the side of the bed just as Barney enters the room, his socked feet somewhat covered by his boot-cut jeans. He’s wearing an MIT t-shirt Gordon seems to remember him getting for free… somewhere. He doesn’t remember where. He feels himself tense as he faces the cowboy. 

Barney opens his mouth like he’s going to say something, but stops, his expression going slack at the sight of Gordon’s made-up face. For a second, Gordon thinks he’s still going to say something, braces himself for- well, he isn’t sure what, but Alyx speaks up first.

“My dad sent me a new set of eyeshadow. I wanted to try it, Gordon’s a great test subject.” She chuckles to herself.

By then, Barney seems to have regained his composure at least somewhat. Though… his face is tinted a lot redder than it had been a few moments ago. His focus goes back to Gordon once Alyx finishes talking. 

Then Barney smiles that sweet, easy-on-the-eyes smile. “Well shoot, Gordy. You should let Alyx experiment on ya more often, you look pretty.” 

Gordon relaxes almost instantly, letting out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding. He does feel his own cheeks start to heat up, though.

Then Barney steps across the room, flopping on the bed on the opposite side of Gordon. He takes up so much space that his legs land on Gordon’s lap. His hands automatically come to rest on top of them, gently smoothing out some of the wrinkled denim.

“So,” Barney starts once he’s settled. “What’re we workin’ on?”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!! Comments are always appreciated!! Oh, and because of the kind of au this is, I'd be more than happy to take requests!!!


End file.
